Minnesota primary primer: 5 questions with GOP governor candidates Mike Lindell, Lisa Demuth, Kendall Qualls

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS conducted a series of 1-on-1 interviews leading up to the Minnesota primary election on Tuesday, Aug. 11.

Below are the interviews with the Republican candidates for governor, Mike Lindell, Lisa Demuth and Kendall Qualls. The extended interviews are below them.

KSTP/SurveyUSA poll: Demuth in striking distance of Lindell, Craig up in key demographic

5 Questions

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    5 questions on 5 issues: Mike Lindell, Republican candidate for governor 









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    5 questions on 5 issues: Lisa Demuth, Republican candidate for governor 









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    5 questions on 5 issues: Kendall Qualls, Republican candidate for governor 

Extended Interviews

Transcripts

Demuth

Demuth: “Some of the things the state can do is again reducing mandates. Think of things such as Paid Family and Medical Leave. A tax on every business. Not only is it a tax on every business though; Minnesotans need to realize that is … an additional tax on all of our city offices, on all of our county offices, and the only way they can pass those things forward is to make sure they raise property taxes to pay for it.”

Hauser: “What would you do to get more bang for the education buck?”

Demuth: “You are exactly right … we are investing more, yet our kids are not seeing those results like we should. I think when we invest into education, we need to see results that are working rather than continually sending good money or good tax dollars after failing programs and we have to assess our schools across the state.”

Hauser: “Does the state have a role in helping Minnesotans pay for or afford healthcare?”

Demuth: “The state should be there to help Minnesotans that truly need it, but we have to stop paying for people to not show up for work. When it comes to healthcare, we have a lot of times mandates that are put on private insurers but not on state programs, so when we are again pushing mandates for different things in the health arena, it makes it more costly.”

Hauser: “A lot was done to stop fraud or address it after it’s happened. What more needs to be done?”

Demuth: “We need to have agency commissioners that are going to be accountable. That can’t continue on in their jobs if fraud continues to go on in their agency.”

Hauser: “What role do you see the state playing in helping the federal government enforce immigration laws?”

Demuth: “The state has a role to play in enforcing federal immigration laws rather than hiding from them or helping us become a magnet with some of the programs that have been put in, making us a magnet and then trying to hide that fact.”

Lindell

Lindell: “We believe that we can save over $20 billion, which would do two things. The property taxes for sure for anyone there will be lowered, with anyone that’s got their houses paid for. And as for the income tax, I want to either bring that way down with this $20 billion that we believe we’d save or eliminate the sales tax or a combination of both.”

Hauser: “Will it require a big decrease in services Minnesotans have come to expect?”

Lindell: “Some will be eliminated. Some will be streamlined. Where you get the best return on your investment, and you’re cutting these costs.”

Hauser: “Minnesota is spending more on education than ever before, but the performance in the classroom is not following suit. What would you do to get more bang for the education buck in Minnesota?”

Lindell: “I’m a businessman. I went out and looked … has any other state done better during this time frame? And one stood above it all. That’s Mississippi. They were 50th in the nation. They moved up to, in a few short years, moved up to 35 … now they’re in the teens, and they spent 30% less money.”

Hauser: “Healthcare costs are going up exorbitantly. Many Minnesotans cannot afford it. Does the state have a role in helping them?”

Lindell: “This is the biggest part, I believe, of my budget. At least the thread that goes through it. Our healthcare is going to be lowered and better like you wouldn’t believe … Yes, the state absolutely can be part of this, but it also goes back to the private sector a little bit.”

Hauser: “The legislature recently took a lot of steps to fight fraud after it happens and also to try to prevent it. What would you do to continue that work?”

Lindell: “It’s like a Minnesota DOGE. You’ve gotta dive in there, and you’ve gotta find the rest of the fraud. I don’t believe they’ve done enough. Nobody in Minnesota believes they’ve done enough.”

Hauser: “Does the state have a role in helping the federal government, ICE, border agents, enforce immigration laws in the state of Minnesota?”

Lindell: “I will cooperate with the federal government, with ICE.”

Qualls

Qualls: “We need a radical transformation as we look to our tax policy. In the past, many Minnesotans didn’t mind paying those taxes because they got high services for those. That’s been long gone. Not only are we looking at a reduction of property taxes, but personal taxes as well as corporate business tax as well.”Hauser: “We’re spending a lot more money on education than we ever have before. What would you propose to get more for the money that we’re spending?”

Qualls: “We can do a lot more with less, to be quite honest with you, on education … We would do, again, another radical transformation. Getting back to the basics of reading, writing, math, science … I would bring back vocational education back into our high schools that has been long missing to make sure we have a pathway to a successful career other than college.”Hauser: “What role do you see for the state in helping Minnesotans pay for their healthcare?”Qualls: “Solutions cannot always come from the government. When they do, they’re much more expensive. The quality is not there. We need different solutions. To do that, we need a different type of leader to bring it in.”Hauser: “What more needs to be done not just to catch fraud on the other end but to prevent fraud from happening in the first place?”

Qualls: “It’s called leadership, Tom … We don’t need more government to address this. We just need leadership. Leadership, leadership, leadership. It’s called accountability.”Hauser: “Under a Kendall Qualls’ governorship, what would be your view of helping the federal government enforce immigration laws?”

Qualls: “We need to understand the magnitude of this problem, Tom … Here’s what I can tell you, Tom, we wouldn’t need another Metro Surge because we would be coordinating on the front end. It would be a preventative issue. We wouldn’t need the federal government to come down here storming through Minneapolis.”
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